It has been the best of times. It has been the worst of times. President Sarkozy began the year with such high hopes and aspirations as he desired to raise his stature on the world stage. He won his early skirmishes against Chancellor Angela Merkel by first defeating Germany’s desire for Axel Weber to attain the ECB Presidency and then forcing the German Chancellor’s hand for a larger pool of capital for the European Financial Stability Facility. But the taste of victory has now faded as the FRENCH BOND MARKET is suffering under the weight of its deeply troubled banks and the GERMAN/FRENCH 10-YEAR BOND SPREAD CONTINUES TO WIDEN. France is deemed to be very vulnerable for its banks own so much EURO SOVEREIGN DEBT that of course is deemed to be riskless and require no haircut or capital to support it.
Posts Tagged ‘French bond market’
Notes From Underground: Geithner to Europe–Walk This way; Merkel to Geithner–Dream On
October 17, 2011Just when it looked like the risk-on paradigm was gaining some traction, Chancellor Merkel, through her spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said, “…dreams that are taking hold again now that with this package everything will be solved and everything will be over on Monday won’t be able to be fulfilled.” The global equity markets were experiencing a continued rally from Friday when the Merkel statement was released and the market immediately went into sell mode and risk off. The U.S. equity markets tried to maintain Friday’s sizable rally as the news of CITI and WELLS FARGO earnings provided a momentary boost. Overnight the U.S., markets were supported by the news that KINDER MORGAN was buying the pipeline and energy producer, EL PASO.